SEND Screening: Ben's Story

Ben joined one of our Year 3 (age 8) classes mid-year, and settled in quickly – a sociable, charming and bright boy. I marked his books, saw him contributing in class using the mini whiteboards and had him mentally pegged as a capable child, coping well with the demands of the curriculum. I had no concerns and waited for his Year 2 results to come through from his previous school.

We use Flurrish's Number.fy routinely for learning number facts and often work with the children in small groups. Shortly after Ben arrived I was working with a dozen children and set them a number of times tables to complete. Afterwards I reviewed the results, keen to see how useful the data would be in tracking their progress. It was very easy to spot that one child was not doing very well, in fact it became apparent that he did not even know his 1x table... the child was Ben.

Upon investigating further, it transpired that Ben had developed a brilliant coping strategy – he was adept at copying, really adept! His Year 2 test results were above average for reading (3a) and a high average for maths (2a) – so he had fooled his previous school too! His Mother was much relieved as she had always felt that something was not quite right and so was keen to co-operate with the Special Educational Needs referral.

Number.fy is not only part of our daily class routine but invaluable for children like Ben – there was no place to hide as it was just him and a non-threatening mobile device. His failure became a success story as he subsequently received the intervention and support he needed.